Overview
- Peer-reviewed results published January 21, 2026 in Astronomy & Astrophysics analyze a major flare recorded during Solar Orbiter’s September 30, 2024 close pass.
- EUI, SPICE, STIX and PHI captured complementary layers from corona to photosphere, resolving features a few hundred kilometers wide and changes every two seconds.
- Roughly 40 minutes of precursor activity showed many small reconnection events that spread rapidly in space and time and collectively drove the large eruption.
- Measurements documented a detached filament, bursts of brightness, streams of raining plasma blobs, and particles accelerated to about 40–50% of light speed.
- Researchers say the case study challenges existing flare-energy-release models, informs space-weather understanding, and requires further events plus sharper X‑ray imagery to test how universal the mechanism is.